God's Not Dead: Movie Review

So last night I went to the movies to watch the movie God's Not Dead, and I figured writing a review on it would be a good way to start the blog back up. First of all I would like to share an awesome experience that happened to me last night in the line to get my ticket. It was raining hard, like flash flood hard, and I was kind of regretting going. Well just as I was about to turn around and leave this lady came over to me, asked me what movie I was going to see, and when I told her she said, "Oh good! I felt God calling me to give this to someone! So here you go! Enjoy!" She handed me a printed out ticket for God's Not Dead. How awesome is that?!

Anyways, back to the movie! For those of you that don't know what this movie is about (I will include a link to the trailer at the bottom), I'll save you from my rambling and just tell you Google's summary. "Present-day college freshman and devout Christian, Josh Wheaton, finds his faith challenged on his first day of Philosophy class by the dogmatic and argumentative Professor Radisson. Radisson begins class by informing students that they will need to disavow, in writing, the existence of God on that … Morefirst day, or face a failing grade. As other students in the class begin scribbling the words "God Is Dead" on pieces of paper as instructed, Josh find himself at a crossroads, having to choose between his faith and his future. Josh offers a nervous refusal, provoking an irate reaction from his smug professor. Radisson assigns him a daunting task: if Josh will not admit that "God Is Dead," he must prove God's existence by presenting well-researched, intellectual arguments and evidence over the course of the semester, and engage Radisson in a head-to-head debate in front of the class. If Josh fails to convince his classmates of God's existence, he will fail the course and hinder his lofty academic goals. With almost no one in his corner, Josh wonders if he can really fight for what he believes. Can he actually prove the existence of God?"

I went into this movie, water and skittles in tow, expecting this movie to be exactly like it was. What I mean by that is: it was predictable. Now, don't get me wrong...I enjoyed it, but there weren't really any surprises. I won't go into great detail because I don't want to give any spoilers to any of you that haven't yet seen it. All that I mean is that it was pretty much like every other Christian movie produced. Every big thing that happened I saw coming from a mile away.
The movie has such an amazing message, and I do recommend that everyone see it (although I don't recommend that you go into it expecting it to be the greatest movie ever made). 

Aside from the predictability of the movie, the acting (for some of the actors/actresses) wasn't the greatest. I love the Robertson's (from A&E's Duck Dynasty), but Willie Robertson is definitely not a movie actor. It mostly seemed like he was uncomfortable, in a way. Props to his lovely wife, Korie, for her acting. (Much, much better than her husbands.) I think it was a good idea to add in the Robertsons for the few scenes they were in, they sent a good message, and I, personally, think that there will be a few people that go see the movie BECAUSE they made an appearance. So overall, acting aside, I enjoyed the fact that they added them in.

I was discussing the movie with a pastor afterwards, and we were talking about how realistic and unrealistic parts of the movie were. It did have a few over exaggerated, melodramatic scenes (which I figure were for more of a laugh than to be taken seriously). We were talking about how realistic situations, like in this movie, actually are. I didn't actually realize how much things like that (professors forcing students to disown God) until the end of the movie when they were listing all of these different cases...and that's just the ones that they actually listed. It's incredibly sad when you think about it. One thing that stuck out to me as incredibly accurate was when we found out why the professor felt the way he did. I completely and 100% understand where he was coming from, and I've met plenty of people who thought the same exact way as he did. Honestly, I've had moments where I've felt just the same as them. It's hard to be a faithful believer and follower, and constantly watch all of these bad things happen.

 

As a Christian every single day is a struggle. Most people have this mindset that being a Christian makes life perfect, and that's why so many atheists were once Christians. I thinks that's another reason that I enjoyed this movie so much. There were those Christians that had the picture perfect life, and there were the ones that did more suffering than they could ever deserve.

Well guys, I figured that I've rambled enough for today soo I'll just end by saying that this movie isn't perfect, but it's definitely worth seeing. I hope all of you that haven't will decide to take a look and hopefully get something out of it. Jesus love's all of you. Remember: GOD'S NOT DEAD.

 

-Lexie  

Click here to watch the trailer for God's Not Dead. I hope you all enjoy! :)